There are a lot of things I don’t like. Dirt and smelly things are pretty high on that list. So I surprised even myself when I accepted an invitation to visit a dairy farm. I figured it would do myself and my kids a lot of good to step outside the box and experience something new.

So we got in the car and drove 115 miles away to Kooistra’s Dairy Farm.

Moo.

But let me be honest here about my reasons for accepting this invitation, I had an alterior motive besides a simple new experience.

I wanted to learn more about milk. See where it comes from. How it is collected. How the cows are treated. What they eat. And how the cow’s milk gets from the cow to our store. As a mom, I want whats best for my family and dairy has always been an essential part of our diets. Very few other products by themselves offer as many nutrients as a serving of dairy, and when it comes to healthy snack options, dairy has got it going on.

We visited Kooistra Dairy Farm in Woodstock, Illinois and got a private tour from Linnea Kooistra and Midwest Dairy Association representative Karen Bohnert (Karen is also a diary farmer). Linnea owns the farm with her husband Joel and although she said she had other plans for her life than becoming a farmer, a fateful meeting with a handsome farmer at a basketball game changed all that. Both Linnea and her husband are 3rd generation farmers and the 800 acre farm they own now once belonged to Joel’s parents. Linnea and Joel have been a team working their farm since 1972 and recently Linnea was named the first woman Master Farmer in Illinois.

The Kooistra’s have 500 animals to care for on their farm, 250 full-grown milking cows (a number of them pregnant at any given time) and 250 calves at various stages of development. They also grow corn and soybeans on their land as well, some of which is used to help feed all those cows.

Upon arriving at the farm, we were greeted by Marley.

The dairy farm dog.

Who is afraid of cows.

During our visit, Linnea took us through the farm and explained the day to day workings of life on a dairy farm.

As she talked, there was one constant theme throughout – taking great care of the cows.

After meeting Marley, we got to meet some week-old calves. They were so sweet and the perfect size for the kids to interact with. We learned that the Kooistra’s keep all the females and sell the males. Males do not product milk, so they don’t have much use on a dairy farm. Especially because they use artificial insemination for breeding.

I was surprised at how timid and sweet the calves were. A couple were actually afraid of us.

Every calf born on the farm is tagged and assigned a number. This number identifies the cow by the year they were born and in which order they were born. This number is important because it is how they track everything about each cow on a detailed computer system.

The calves diets are very controlled by not only a vet but by a nutritionist who makes sure these babies get everything they need to grow big and strong. Linnea said that while the calves are given the colostrum from their mothers, the mothers do not nurse because of the risk of infection to the calves.

Despite having to tear us all away from the babies, we moved on to the big barn where the adult cows live. This barn was pretty amazing. Linnea described how it was designed to be easy to clean, make the food and water easily accessible and create an ideal atmosphere for the cows and keep them cool in the summer. It turns out cows don’t mind the cold weather, the big issue is keeping the wind out, and this barn was designed to do that too.

I love this series of pictures of my kids. There were fearless, walking right in and exploring on their own – with Jake clearly being protective of his little sister.

The adults cows were intimidating. They are HUGE. But I was surprised to learn that they are gentle giants. Linnea showed us what happens when she leans up against the bars of their pen. Her arm gets licked, and my kids, while a little cautious, had a great time holding their hands out and getting cow kisses.

In addition to learning about their environment, Linnea described the cow’s diets in great detail. As I mentioned, they employ a nutritionist to make sure the cows have an ideal, healthy diet that combines corn (they use the entire corn stalk not just the ears of corn because the cows like it), cottonseed, hay, protein and vitamins and minerals. It is an ideal diet for dairy cows that they actually enjoy eating.

The next stop on our trip was the milking room. The cows are milked twice a day and what’s interesting is that they want to be milked. I never really thought of it before, but as any woman who has breastfed knows, when milk builds up, it gets uncomfortable. So milking is something they enjoy because it offers relief. Linnea explained all of the sanitation procedures, and how the room was designed to keep everything clean and sterile. Upon entering the room, it slopes upwards which puts pressure on the cows bladders so they pee BEFORE they get up to the milking area.

We also learned that each cow produces about 9 gallons of milk a day, and that testing is done to ensure the milk meets the very stringent minimum standards of the dairy industry and does not contain any antibiotics. Milk containing antibiotics (if a cow had been sick and her milk was collected with the rest) is rejected and farms are penalized.

As the milk is pumped from the cows, it goes into a big giant holding tank that cools it to 39 degrees. The milk is picked up each day and delivered to the local Dean Foods facility for processing. From there is is sold to numerous different brands and ends up on store shelves within 24 hours.

After learning how they milk the cows, we got to visit the “teenager” cows who are kept in a separate area until they are 2 years old. Cows are full grown at 2 and they can then have their first calf and begin producing milk.

And then we got to see a newly born calf. I was intrigued that while they do monitor the cows during pregnancy very closely, the births pretty much happen without human interaction, unless they believe there will be a problem.

After our tour of the farm, and the great information we received from both Linnea and Karen about the inner-workings of a dairy farm, we sat down to have a snack. The perfect snack for a visit to a dairy farm – string cheese, yogurt and chocolate milk.

As we sat talking and enjoying our snacks and prepared to leave, Linnea reinforced the passion we had seen from her during our visit. She talked about the strict regulations on milk, told us how to identify the processing facility the milk came from by a set of numbers on the container, and she told us that it doesn’t matter what brand of milk you buy. She said milk is one of the safest foods you can buy and that all milk is subject to the same stringent, frequent, thorough testing and then is sold to the brand who puts their label on it.

She said the most important thing is to just buy milk!

As we were about to leave, Linnea succinctly described her life as a dairy farmer and I asked her to email that to me so I can quote her. I could not do justice to it myself.

From Linnea Kooistra:

Thanks so much for your interest in dairy farming and how milk is produced. I hope you can share with your followers the passion we have for what we do.

Dairy farming is hard work. We have to be here every day 365 days a week, milking cows twice per day and caring for our animals in all kinds of weather. You don’t do something like this unless you love it and love animals. Everything on our farm is geared to make our cows as comfortable and healthy as possible. That includes a healthy diet, good veterinary care, and a comfortable environment to live.

Comfortable happy healthy cows give more milk. It is as simple as that.

We are proud that our profession involves feeding the world a healthy, great tasting food while being good stewards of the land and the animals. It is a tradition in farm families and I was glad to be able to share it with you today.

To read more about the health benefits of milk, and learn why “dairy makes sense” plus enter to win a wonderful prize pack from the Midwest Dairy Association, visit: Chocolate Milk Makes Sense.

About Kim

Kim is a Chicago native who currently lives in Northwest Indiana with her husband, two children, and three dogs. She is a Licensed Architect but left the corporate world to pursue a creative endeavor that would allow her to be home with her children.

Such a great experience for the kids. I wonder if the dairy farmer drinks their milk pasturized or raw? It is one question I wished you could have asked them, although they may not admit it if they do drink it raw. After all their cows get fed corn which is not the best thing for them.

We did ask that question! They buy their milk from the store. First they drink skim and second she said pasturized is best and safer for everyone.

Also I think for dairy cows since the corn isn’t mean to cheaply fatten them up for beef, the corn is not an issue. They like it, plus they get the whole stalk, the green part and all. She made it sound like they like it – like if a cow was in a corn field, she would eat it.

thats a lovely blog. we live in the country so have all this on our doorstep – my son is one and a half and loves stopping to talk to the cows on our walks. he holds his hands out to them to see if they will lick (cue antibacterial gel!). and he does a lovely moo.

It’s so interesting to see the inner workings of a large dairy farm. We grew up milking cows, on a much smaller scale, and it amazes me how different things can be from farm to farm. It’s wonderful to hear how well they care for their animals and how much emphasis is put on sanitation!

I never realized that milk is sold to the brand and wasn’t something that they “produced” themselves! That’s very interesting to me and does reinforce the idea that in a lot of cases, it really doesn’t matter which brand of milk you decide to buy.

Loved your post! We were supposed to visit a dairy farm last weekend, but here in SW Iowa, all our roads were flooded so we couldn’t get there. After over 100 miles, we gave up past the 5th road closing. I can’t wait till we can go!

I am so happy you enjoyed your dairy farm tour. We have a family dairy in northern CA….I moved here when I married my husband 8 years ago. I, like you, am not keen on smelly things but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at what it’s like on a dairy farm! I think it’s great that you’re sharing your experience with your readers:)

Wow, what an interested (and tiring LOL) live you must have. The older I get, the more I think farm life is such a special unique think that people don’t value as much as they used to. Too much processed foods i guess..

I really enjoyed yr post on the Kooistra Dairy…. these “Family Farms” are becoming more & more scarce, it’s great to see that we still DO have some families out there willing to make the commitment for all of us! I have an Aunt/Uncle?Cousin who have a dairy farm near Dubuque, IA & it’s a 24/7, 365-days a year job! All those cows have to be milked 2X dly, fed, watered, monitored etc. And for those people who argue about the antibiotics in milk – I’m glad you included that about the dairy rejecting milk from cows who are on it – the REG’s are very strict! Thanks for a great article, KUDO’s to Farm Families like the Kooistras!!!((1955nursehjc4me(at)myway(dot)com)) 😉

Even though I live in MS now, I grew up on a dairy farm in Maine. I am so glad you enjoyed the Kooistra farm trip as there is so much for children and adults to love about farms. I also love the way they treat their cows as too many dairy farms do not always have the same care.

How cool to see a newborn calf! I couldnt imagine taking care of 500 animals every day. It’s sad what is happening to dairy farmers my neck of the woods (NY) – they are in need of funding to keep their farms going and theyve been in the business for a great deal of time.

What a great time you look like you had – and so informative. The kid’s smiles are adorable. I’ve had a a cow lick my hand before, it’s really rough. I love the photos of the newborn calf, so precious! =)

Oh my gosh this looks like the coolest field trip ever! I love cows, yes, especially the baby ones! We always go to see the cows at our local fair grounds when they bring them to show them off during the fair but I have never thought about taking a trip to a local dairy farm! I’ll have to see if we can find one locally willing to give us a tour!

P.S. I also think it’s great that your kids got to meet the first woman Master Farmer in Illinois!